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Thursday, 2 February 2017

Blog Tour: Stack a Deck by Sue Duff + Excerpt

BESTSELLING AUTHOR RELEASES LATEST INSTALLMENT IN HER URBAN FANTASY SERIES

Stack a Deck explores the tough questions of a world gone wrong

DENVER, CO -- What if the Earth’s ozone layer decayed? What if asteroids weren’t destroyed by outer atmosphere and impacted us on on a regular basis? And what if the Earth’s core slowed its rotation, leaving our planet completely out of sync with the gravitational pull of the moon? Bestselling author Sue Duff explores these terrifying questions in her latest installment of her urban fantasy series, Stack a Deck (Book Four in The Weir Chronicles).

As the epic story continues, Duff’s main protagonist Ian Black learns how dangerous tyrannical ruler Aeros has become, and sees for himself the narcissist’s impact on an entire planet. Ian is forced to turn his back on the Pur Weir and align himself with the rebels to rescue Rayne. But when he travels to Earth’s alternate universe, he finds himself powerless and struggles to survive. Though, it is here that he, along with eager readers of the series, finally discover the true history of the Weir and his connection to Earth’s imminent destruction.

“Stack A Deck was so challenging because I had to consider the worst future for Earth and ask the tough ‘what if’ questions,” said Duff.

Stack a Deck is the fourth of five books in the Weir Chronicles, so fans of Duff’s novels can anticipate an exciting close in the final chapter in 2018.

Out of hundreds of submissions, Duff’s novel Fade to Black placed as a finalist in the Colorado Gold Writing Contest in 2011 and in 2015, her writing earned her the PEN Award from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Masks and Mirrors nabbed Duff a nomination for the 2015-2016 Independent Writer of the Year from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and Sleight of Hand landed on the Denver Post Bestseller list in 2016.

Additionally, Duff has completed a short story entitled Duo’vr for the anthology TICK TOCK: Seven Tales of Time, which received the gold medal for Best Book Cover and silver medal for Best Anthology for the 2016 Colorado Independent Publishers Association EVVY Awards. The anthology also was nominated for Best Anthology at the 2016 UTOPIA Con. A second anthology is on its way in 2017 and, in addition to the seven Wicked Ink authors short stories, it will feature two short-stories hand-selected from over 45 submissions received from writers all over the world.Ian’s alliance with the rebels brings the wrath of the Pur army crashing down on them, but he is forced to abandon his new allies and travels to Earth’s alternate universe to rescue Rayne. As Ian combs the strange, desolate planet in search for her, he discovers the true story of the Weir and his connection to Earth’s imminent destruction.

Love Audiobooks? You can also listen to Fade to Black through Audible.

Excerpt

The technician shook his head. “He tortured each one. I heard Wendel’s screams . . . then Barrons . . . Dunlap . . .” He gazed upon what was left of his comrades with a quivering lip. “No one gave in, not one.”

Catherine’s tears dampened both cheeks. “They gave their lives for us all.” She gestured to two men standing nearby. “Do what you can. I’ll send more to help.”

Ian stared at the tortured remains while nausea rose and bile burned his throat. He gagged and turned away. They died because of his defiance of the Primary’s order not to leave Earth. Ian had brought this upon the innocent people of Thrae.

A few weeks earlier, the Primary had his Elite guard slaughter factory workers in Germany, just to send a message to Eve. But this carnage put that scene to shame. Aeros’s tyranny was insurmountable compared to his brother’s. “I’m so sorry,” Ian choked and inwardly vowed to make Aeros pay. The technician collapsed to his knees and dropped his head, releasing what he couldn’t hold back any longer.

Catherine took Ian’s arm and led him away in silence. He had no words to ease her sorrow, nothing to lessen his guilt. “Aeros has done this before?” he asked, trying to wrap his head around such a monster.

“Too many times,” Catherine paused in the middle of the hall. “Has he treated Earth as he’s done to Thrae?”

“On Earth, he’s gathering an army of the most ruthless Weir. To what end, I still don’t know.”
“He will steal Earth’s energy and change its landscape forever,” Catherine said. “If he hasn’t already begun.”

“No Weir is capable of that,” Ian said. “We can only draw upon the energy. Too much, and it would kill any one of us.”

“He’s not just anyone.” She led him farther down the corridor, then paused at a fork. “I will show you what he’s capable of.”

Author Biography of Sue Duff
Sue Duff has dreamed of dragons and spaceships before she could even read, so it’s only natural that she now combines both fantasy and science fiction as her favorite genre. Having written since high school, Duff never took it seriously until a skiing accident laid her up for an entire summer and she turned on the word processor to combat the boredom.

She is the second oldest of six girls with an avid reader mom and her dad, the family’s single drop of testosterone in a sea of estrogen.

By day, Duff is a dedicated speech-language therapist at an inner city school district, a career she pursued much in part to her aunt who got her hooked on stories of the profession when Duff was younger. She is passionate about the work she does and regularly works to help those students that need it the most.

Sue is a member of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and The Pikes Peak Writers. She calls Colorado home and when not saving the world one page at a time, she can be found walking her great dane, getting her hands dirty in her garden, or creating something delicious in her kitchen.

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